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Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly, who leads the CFL in passing yards this season with 4,383, is 33 years old. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ Jeremiah Masoli, who ranks second with 4,286 yards, is 30 and the Calgary Stampeders’ Bo Levi Mitchell, who ranks third with 3,937, is 28.

When Anthony Calvillo led the Alouettes to their last Grey Cup championship in 2010 — their second straight — he was 38. Current Alouettes QB Johnny Manziel, who has 622 yards passing in his first four CFL games, is only 25.

Alouettes Notebook: Experience is key to success for QBs in CFLBack to video

Alouettes head coach Mike Sherman says that’s a big deal when it comes to American quarterbacks making the adjustment to the CFL.

“It’s hard for a quarterback from the south to come up here and play,” Sherman, an American who is in his first season as a head coach in the CFL, said after practice Friday. “The game is so different than it is down there. There’s so many other things on him. The waggles and some of the nuances of Canadian football and that’s probably why the average age of the starting quarterback in the CFL is 31 and our guys are 25. So most of those guys are seasoned quarterbacks who have come up through the ranks and learned how to play this game.

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“It’s a plus that our quarterback group, as a whole, has gone through this season,” Sherman added. “I think we’ll all be a little bit more seasoned, myself included, as far as the Canadian Football League is concerned.”

Reilly played university football in the U.S. for Central Washington, Masoli went to the University of Mississippi, Mitchell attended Eastern Washington, while Manziel won the 2012 Heisman Trophy as America’s top college player while at Texas A&M and then played two seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns.

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Sherman, who coached the NFL’s Green Bay Packers from 2000 until 2005 and was head coach at Texas A&M from 2008 to 2011, was asked what the biggest adjustment for him has been as a CFL head coach.

“The kicking game is probably the toughest,” the 63-year-old said. “All the rules of the kicking game. When to do this and when not to do this. But I would say the kicking game is the biggest challenge. The waggles are not a problem … I kind of like them. It allows you to be very creative at times. But the kicking game is the most challenging for me as far as the rules are concerned.”

Sherman said he has been pleased with the progress Manziel has been making since the Alouettes acquired the QB from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on July 22, along with offensive-linemen Tony Washington and Landon Rice, in exchange for defensive-end Jamaal Westerman, receiver Chris Williams and first round picks at the CFL Draft in 2020 and 2021. In last Sunday’s 34-29 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Molson Stadium, Manziel completed 9-of-16 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns without being intercepted and ran the ball five times for 45 yards. He was also sacked five times.

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“When he first started playing, he was trying to make things happen that maybe weren’t there,” Sherman said. “Now he’s letting the game come to him a little bit and I think he’s playing at a higher level. He needs to continue to improve, which he will. He seems to be very focused on that part of it, so we’ll have to wait and see. I’m really pleased with all our quarterbacks. They’re all working hard.”

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Praise for fans

Sherman said one of the things that has impressed him most about the CFL is the fans.

“I think we have great fans,” he said. “Obviously, we’re not filling the place up with 30,000 people because we’re not playing the game well enough to warrant that. But the fans that we have there are very loyal and they stay until the end and they’re very positive and I can’t say enough about them. It’s not an overly large group right now — it will get there — but our fan base, I take my hat off to them. They’ve stuck with us and I appreciate that.”

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Chasing the Argos

Heading into Monday’s Thanksgiving Day game against Calgary at Molson Stadium (1 p.m., TSN, RDS, TSN 690 Radio), the Alouettes have the worst record in the CFL at 3-11-0 while the Stampeders have the best at 11-2-0.

The Alouettes have a chance to move out of the CFL basement with four games remaining in the regular season since the Toronto Argonauts are 3-10-0 heading into their game Saturday in B.C. against the Lions (7 p.m., TSN).

Is that a goal the Alouettes have set for themselves?

“To be honest with you, I think that would be a mistake for us,” Sherman said about focusing on catching the Argonauts. “When we play (the Argos) beating them is critical, but right now it’s just Calgary that we need to focus on. I’m not smart enough, and I don’t think (the players) are either, to focus on too many things at one time, so we’ll just focus on Calgary and playing that game on Monday.”

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After Monday’s game against the Stampeders, two of the Alouettes’ final three regular-season games will be against the Argonauts on Saturday, Oct. 20 in Toronto and on Sunday, Oct. 28 at Molson Stadium. The Alouettes will wrap up the season on Saturday, Nov. 3 when they visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

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Injury news

Washington, the left tackle the Alouettes acquired as part of the Manziel trade, and wide-receiver B.J. Cunningham didn’t practise on Friday, but Sherman said he’s hoping both be ready to play Monday against the Stampeders.

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